Protection
by Ranowa Hikura
Summary: Oneshot, no romance. Hyde helps the Foremans when a stranger breaks into their house late at night and winds up getting hurt.


My first That 70s' Show fic, since I have recently become obsessed with this show. Just a onshot that takes place when Eric is off in Africa. Kitty/Red, Hyde/Red NOT romantically... ew. Just friends. Don't own them.

Hyde couldn't sleep. He never could sleep on September 9th. When he'd been a little kid, September 9th was the day he could always count on his mother coming home drunk as hell with yet another guy who didn't like the little boy running around. That month was also usually the month she would neglect to pay the water bill or pick up any form of food on her way home from work. He sighed as he closed his eyes, remembering this very day, eight years ago.

_"Budr, can't you come home on time at least one night per week?" Edna begged him as she shut and locked the front door. "Steven's always a handful and I'm at work until-"_

_"My job pays more," he grunted. "Besides, I don't have much to come home to, just an alcoholic pathetic-"_

_"Bud!" Edna snapped. "Look, I don't care whether you want to be home or not, Steven is your son, too! And we're barely covering the bills as it is; I can't afford for you to go out and get drunk every other day! And because you're never home, I have to take care of Steven all night so I'm exhausted at work- my boss threatened to fire me again, Bud! If you would just come home on time, everything would be fine!"_

_"Oh, it's my fault, is it?" Bud shouted. Steven hid behind the couch, watching uncertainly as his parents fought... again. His drunken father threw a weak punch at his mother, who shouted at him and hit him back. Steven backed up into the corner as his father kicked Edna off him, forcing her to the ground. "Why is it always my fault?" he slurred. "You're the one who just 'forgot' to take your birth control pill and we ended up with this kid who sucks up all my money- you got pregnant just to trap me here! It's all your fault, or Steven's, but it's not mine!"_

_"Go to hell!" Edna shouted as she slapped him. Steven winced as she shoved his father back against the wall and continued, "You bastard, I didn't get pregnant to trap you here! My life would be a hell of alot better without either one of you worthless pieces of crap here! As soon as Steven turns eighteen, you're both out of here!"_

_"Hey!" Budr hit Edna again before shouting, "Since when does the woman get to throw the man out? I'm only here to pay for that worthless kid of yours, but maybe things would be better off if you just took care of the bastard on your own!"_

_"Don't you dare think of dumping him on my lap!" Edna hit him again, and Bud was about to throw her against the wall when Steven took a hesitant step forward and started to say something. _

_"You!" Bud snapped, kicking him hard enough in the ribs that he fell silent immediately. "This is all your fault, Steven, all your fault!"_

_Edna nodded and kicked him as well, forcing him back into the corner again. "Bastard! Worthless kid, you ruined everything!" _

_Bud looked at his son for a moment before shaking his head and stumbling towards the door, still drunk out of his mind. "I'm out of here! You can have me or that kid but not both!"_

_"Yeah, you go ahead and go!" There they went again, going from united against the common enemy- Steven- to fighting each other again. "I don't want you here anyway!" Both of them had had a couple of drinks, which just worsened their tempers and made them hate each other more. _

_"Good, I don't want to be here!" Bud shouted before storming outside and slamming the door behind him. Edna turned back to Steven and glared at him._

_"Steven, all your fault. All your fault," she slurred before throwing up on the floor. This wasn't the first time this had happened, but Dad had never left before. Steven didn't get it. Where was his dad going?_

_"Mom?" he asked in a small voice. "Where's Dad?"_

_"You," she snapped. "You made him go... you made him go..." She glared at him again before passing out on top of Steven. He crawled out from under his mother, then frowned. Steven. That was his name, and he hated it._

_At school, there was that one kid, who called him by his last name, Hyde. That annoying Kelso boy tried to be tough and call him Hyde. Well, maybe Hyde was a better name than Steven. Mom and Dad hated Steven, but they didn't hate Hyde. _

_Steven decided he would go from Hyde from now on as he searched for something edible in the kitchen. How nice, takeout Chinese from yesterday. Hyde ignored how unappealing it was and started to eat it because it was there and he hadn't eaten since yesterday. Mom was sick and asleep on the floor, and Dad had just left and it didn't look like he was coming back, so, here he was, eating old, stale food in the middle of the night that was likely to make him sick the next day._

_It was a scenario that had played itself out many times in the old, dirty apartment and would repeat many times in the future. But there was one key difference from now instead of the past earlier, it had been a scared little boy named Steven. _

_Now it was a little boy trying to be a man named Hyde._

Hyde opened his eyes to stare at the ceiling of Foreman's basement. Eight year anniversary of the night his dad left and he had taken on his new name, new persona. Eight year anniversary of the day that ne never was able to sleep where he would just lie there thinking.

With a loud groan, Hyde stood up and headed up towards the kitchen. He could drink a can of Red's beer and that would help him forget why he was awake tonight. He was about to open the refrigerator when he heard the sound of the door closing in the front room. Frowning, Hyde turned around and poked his head out, watching as a shadowy figure silently began climbing the stairs.

Who the hell... Foreman was in Africa, so, not him. Laurie was off seducing the new rich kid fifty miles from here; it was too early for her to be back. Red and Kitty were upstairs, and there was no reason for Donna, Jackie, Fez, or Kelso to show up here this time of night. Hyde followed the figure quietly, picking up the baseball bat by the door and hefting it over his shoulder.

The man slipped silently into Red and Kitty's room, which was more than Hyde needed to convince him that this wasn't one of his friends or just a burglar choosing a random house to steal from. Hyde hurried up the stairs and stood in the doorway to Red and Kitty's room, watching with wide eyes as the stranger approached the bed, pulling something out of his pocket and holding it above the sleeping couple- it was a gun.

Without a second thought, Hyde approached him from behind and swung the bat at him, aiming at his head. The bastard moved just as the bat was about to make contact and instead he struck his right shoulder blade. Crying out in pain as he was knocked to the floor, the man grabbed the edge of Hyde's shirt and pulled him down with him.

The sound of a gunshot shocked both Red and Kitty from sleep. The former soldier jumped to life while his wife struggled to shake off the remnants of sleep and comprehend what was going on; Red rolled off the bed to where the gunshot had come from and squinted through the dark to see forms wrestling frantically on the ground. Kitty turned on the lamp to reveal one of them to be a hooded stranger, the other, Hyde. Red dropped to his knees and pulled the two apart, smashing the unfamiliar man's head back against the wall so hard it knocked him unconscious. "What the _hell_ is going on here?_"_ he shouted as he let the man slump to the floor, on top of Hyde, who was still lying on his back.

"Son of a bitch," Hyde gasped through clenched teeth as Kitty hurried around to the three men to see what the hell was happening. Hyde swore under his breath and slammed his fist against the carpet, clutching at his shoulder.

"Oh my god, Red," Kitty gasped as she got down beside Hyde, moving his hand aside so she could see his shoulder. Blood was seeping through his shirt at an alarming rate, and when she pulled his sleeve down so she could see his injury, she pulled away in shock. Both Red and Kitty recognized it, Red from his years in the army and Kitty from being a nurse- it was a gunshot wound.

* * *

><p>Red sighed as he rested his head in his hands, waiting for Kitty to come back with Steven's test results. The ER had patched him up and admitted him, though he had passed out while they had been waiting for the ambulance and had yet to regain consciousness.<p>

The police had also been called. The bastard who'd shot Steven had been a relative of one of Kitty's patients who'd died- out for revenge. Steven must have heard him breaking into the house and come after him with a bat.

And what really pissed Red off was not the fact that someone had come after Kitty, that Steven had wound up getting hurt because he'd been trying to protect her- yes, those things made him furious, but that wasn't the worst of it. The worst of it was the fact that, if they had all depended on Red to save them, both Kitty and Steven would probably be dead right now.

He had fought in a god damn war and yet couldn't even protect his family. It was probably good Eric was in Africa or he would of gotten hurt in this mess too. If it wasn't for Steven, then Kitty would have been hurt, maybe even killed- hell, who knows, maybe the psycho would of gone after him too. Damn it, this was all his fault. When he had taken Steven into his home, it had been to protect him from the streets and give him a better life; to keep him safe. But what good was that if Red couldn't keep him safe in his own damn home?

And Kitty. She was his _wife_, for god's sakes, and he couldn't even protect her! What the hell kind of husband was he if he couldn't even protect his wife?

Kitty walked into Steven's hospital room then, interrupted his disturbing thoughts, holding the boy's file. "Steven's going to be okay," she said softly. "He'll have to stay here until tomorrow night and take it easy for a while, but... he'll be fine."

"Good," he grunted. After a moment, he shook his head and crossed his arms as Kitty put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry, Kitty," he sighed. "I know I should have done a better job of protecting you, and Steven."

"Red, it's not your fault that some psycho decided to break into our house and shoot him. Besides, what's important is that he'll be okay- that we're all okay."

"Yes, because of Steven! But that's not his job. That's mine- to make sure you guys are all safe," he said gruffly. "And that's where I failed. God... I should stick my foot in his ass for getting himself shot to protect us!"

Kitty hesitated before shaking her head and smiling slightly. "Red, you can't always be our protector. And just because one crazy slipped through your net doesn't mean you failed. Just means Steven's not the same kid we took in three years ago, and that he was willing to help us, even at a cost to himself. You did a good job raising him," she said before squeezing his shoulder and headed out of the room.

Red shook his head unhappily before reaching down to hold Steven's hand. If one of those dumbasses who always hung around Eric and Steven saw any displays of affection from him, he'd never hear the end of it, but they weren't here and Steven wasn't awake to tell them. He sighed again. "Sorry, Steven," he muttered under his breath.

Written in half an hour, so, don't expect a masterpiece. Please review


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